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| Ohlendorf #2 |
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| Ohlendorf #1 |
Otto Ohlendorf was born on
4 February 1907 in
Hoheneggelsen near
Hannover.
He joined the SA in
1925 and the SS in
1926.
In
1936 he joined the SD as an economic adviser and
from 1939 to 1945
he served as the chief of the Reich Security Main Office's
Amt III, which studied the results of government measures
on the German population.
During his trial he stated:
"
I joined the NSDAP in 1925 and became a member
under No. 6631. After training in jurisprudence and economics, in 1936 I became
Economical Counsellor (Wirtschaftsreferent) in the Sicherheitsdienst des RF-SS (SD) and was attached to
SS as Hauptsturmführer. From 1939 to 1945 I was Chief of AMT III SD Inland,
(part time) of the Reichsicherheitshauptamt. My main position in the years 1938-1943
was responsible operating head of the Reichs Group Commerce. From 1943 to 1945
I was Ministerial Direktor and permanent representative of the State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of Economics."
Ohlendorf was chief of the
Einsatzgruppe D. His unit was responsible for killings in the southern
Ukraine, and for the killing of 90,000 persons from
June 1941 to March 1942.
Promotions:
SS-Brigadeführer on
16 July 1942,
Generalmajor der Polizei, SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei on
9 November 1944.
Ohlendorf probably joined
Himmler during his last days. He was captured probably
in
Bremervörde on
21 or 22 May 1945,
together with other members of
Himmler's flight group.
Ohlendorf surrendered to the British on
23 May 1945 and testified
at the Trial of the Major War Criminals later that year. In
1947, he was the chief
defendant in one of the twelve
Nürnberg trials held by the U.S. Army
(the "
Einsatzgruppen Case"). He was sentenced to death on
10 April 1948, and on
8 June 1951, despite the American revision of many sentences, he was executed in
Landsberg by hanging.
Sources:
Witte Peter, Wildt Michael, Pohl Dieter and others, eds.
Der Dienstkalender Heinrich Himmlers 1941/42,
Hans Christians Verlag, Hamburg, 1999
www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/
© ARC 2005
